NGO, foundation launch disaster risk reduction project in 3 Vietnamese provinces

 A community project for the reduction of disaster risks in flood-prone areas was launched this week in three provinces in Vietnam by the international non-governmental organization Save the Children and Prudence Foundation of Prudential Vietnam.

A Vietnamese official speaks at a ceremony to launch a community project for the reduction of disaster risks in flood-prone areas.

Kicking off on Wednesday, the three-year project will be implemented till 2017 to raise public awareness and prepare vulnerable people for disasters such as typhoons and floods.

It is estimated that 6,000 vulnerable children and 30,000 adults in Dien Bien and Hai Phong in the north and Tien Giang in the Mekong Delta will benefit from the project.

The project will train teachers and children on disaster preparedness and methods to reduce subsequent consequences.

Every year, two million people are estimated to be affected by typhoons in Vietnam, most of whom are children.

Save the Children has 20 years of experience in emergency response and disaster risk reduction in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, the Prudence Foundation previously funded a project for disaster risk reduction in the Mekong Delta provinces of Dong Thap and Tien Giang from 2013 to 2014.

Source: Tuoi Tre

Conference on strengthening the partnership with international non-governmental organizations

 On November 21, 2014, Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO) held a conference on strengthening the partnership with international non-governmental organizations (INGO) in Ho Chi Minh City.

Mr Phan Anh Son - member of the VUFO Standing Committee cum Chief of People's Aid Coordinating Committee (PACCOM) and Mr Nguyen Ngoc Hung - Vice Chief of PACCOM co-chaired the meeting with the participation of representatives of focal points of INGO issues in localities, leaders of some southern provinces’ Union of Friendship Organizations, INGOs, Consulate Generals, donors and businesses.

The conference aimed at reviewing the activities of INGOs in the past 10 months of 2014, the implementation of the National Programme on aids mobilization in 2014, advantages and difficulties in mobilizing aids in 2014 and directions for 2015, discussing INGO’s aid trends and measures to promote and strengthen aid mobilzation in the new situation ...

An overview of the INGO activities in 2014 was presented at the conference. More than 500 organizations maintained activities in 63 provinces and cities of Vietnam with total aid value of 2014 estimated at 250-300 million USD. The cooperation with INGOs has recently entered a new phase. The authorities of Vietnam have actively supported the activities of INGOs in terms of legislation and resources. Some localities have worked closely with the Central agencies and INGOs in the receipt, management and use of aid. However, a number of difficulties have still remained, such as: for INGOs, lack of law understanding, working without registration and out of registered areas, small-scale or scattering activities, high administrative costs, insufficient reporting; for Vietnamese agencies, the gap between regulations and implementation in reality, inconsistent procedures among different localities, inactive in both aid mobilization and information sharing with INGOs and  limitation of human resources.

Several measures to implement the National Program of INGO aid mobilization for the period of 2013 - 2017 were put forward as follows: simplifying a number of related legal documents, providing more specific guidance for localities, supporting localities in developing programs, projects calling for INGO aid, building a set of guidance for INGOs, establishing INGO data center, enhancing the supervision to improve the effectiveness of aid use, improving human resources, strengthening central and local organizational system related to INGO work.

At the conference, the participants also shared information about INGO aid trends in the new situation, advantages and disadvantages during implementing programs and projects in localities as well as solutions for the coming time. Mr. Marko Lovrekovic - Co-director of INGO Data Center (the Center ) said the Center had monthly meetings with PACCOM to exchange information about INGO issues and recommended PACCOM, related ministries and localities to support and invite more donors for consultation and dialogue. INGO data should be soon completed and put into use.

To conclude, Mr. Phan Anh Son emphasized it was the first conference of various sectors, PACCOM would try to solve the problems of administrative procedures, share information for related parties. He also would like to welcome more new members in the southern provinces and hoped that all INGOs would work closely with PACCOM to provide more effective support for localities in need.

Source: MOFA

Foreign NGOs provide $300mn in aid for Vietnam in 2014

Foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have provided Vietnam with an estimated US$300 million in aid in the year to date, according to the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO).

Five hundred international NGOs are operating in Vietnam with 42 more coming and 10 leaving, a representative from the People’s Aid Coordinating Committee (PACCOM) said at a ceremony held in Hanoi on Friday to review and recognize the contributions of the NGOs.

“Though the global economy has yet to show any sign of recovery, foreign NGOs have offered impressive financial support to Vietnam this year,” Don Tuan Phong, vice president of the VUFO, said at the event.

Phong added that the aid has focused on dealing with social issues, healthcare, education improvement, socio-economic development, and environmental protection.

Meanwhile, the PACCOM has vowed to further enhance information sharing with the international NGOs operating in Vietnam and to seek sponsorship for them.

During the event, the VUFO presented 33 foreign NGOs and one individual with certificates of merit in recognition of their significant contributions to poverty reduction and sustainable development in the country.

Marko Lovrekovic, co-managing director of the VUFO-NGO Resource Center, told Tuoi Tre News that the quality of programs run by NGOs is more important than the number of NGOs in Vietnam.
“I think Vietnam does not need to increase the number of NGOs. I think they need to help NGOs better coordinate and implement their projects. The biggest issues now are about legislation and policies, and the legal environment,” Lovrekovic said.

Source: Tuoi Tre

Approved! Social enterprise receives legal status in Vietnam

Hailed as a “crucial milestone”, the legislation is expected to vastly enhance social enterprises’ ability to operate and thrive.

On 26 November, 86% of Vietnamese MPs voted in favour of revisions to Vietnam’s Enterprise Law which for the first time provides a legal definition of social enterprise and grants social enterprises a number of specific rights.

The amended law defines a social enterprise as a business whose main aim is to address a social or environmental issue and which re-invests a minimum of 51% of its annual profits towards its social or environmental mission.

It states that government will “encourage, support and promote the development of social enterprises.” For instance, social enterprises will enjoy “preferential conditions or be considered for special treatment” in the granting of licenses and certificates.

Moreover, the law authorises them to obtain funding, sponsorship and investment from Vietnamese and foreign individuals, enterprises and NGOs to cover their operational and administration costs.
In addition, it enjoins government to provide detailed business registration procedures and other measures to promote the development of social enterprises.

Pham Kieu Oanh, founder and CEO of Centre for Social Initiatives Promotion (CSIP), says that the law is, “a crucial milestone that highlights the recognition by government and society of the contributions social enterprises are making in Vietnam.”

She adds that the law, “creates new opportunities for social enterprises to conduct policy advocacy and supports the development of a comprehensive ecosystem for SEs. It also makes it easier for them to secure capital and form partnerships with the public, private and third sectors.”

British Council Vietnam has played an important supportive role in securing this outcome. Over the past six years, the British Council and its partners have provided capacity-building activity for social enterprises, awareness raising of social enterprise and social investment, and support for intermediary organisations. In the last two years, a key area of focus has been advocacy at the policy level and the introduction of social enterprise concepts to key government institutions.

Ian Robinson, deputy director of British Council Vietnam said, “Knowing the extent to which social enterprise contributes to the UK economy and has successfully weathered the recent financial crisis, the British Council was keen to share this experience in Vietnam.”

He added: “Working with an influential government think tank, the Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM), the Ministry of Planning and Investment and key offices of the National Assembly, as well as local and national media, we built relationships and worked hard to ensure these key institutions understood the value social enterprise can bring to an economy.”

Robinson explains that after the British Council organised workshops, a study tour to the UK and meetings with UK experts, CIEM took the decision to promote the inclusion of social enterprise in the revision of the Enterprise Law, as they saw huge potential for applying UK best practice in social enterprise as a viable model to tackle social and environmental challenges in Vietnam.

Further support from the British Council ensured key individuals visited other ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries to apply their understanding to the ASEAN context and a delegation was also supported to take part in the Social Enterprise World Forum in Seoul.

The legislation was backed by deputy prime minister Vu Duc Dam and vice minister of planning and investment, Dang Huy Dong.

Nguyen Minh Thao, deputy director of the Department for Competitiveness and Business Environment at CIEM said, “Vietnamese social enterprises have emerged and developed steadily during the past years. They have contributed many business innovations to achieving social and community objectives. Their innovations should be nurtured, recognised and promoted. The approval of social enterprise articles on enterprise law affirms the concern, recognition and appreciation from society to social enterprises.”

Next steps include preparation for a decree to guide the implementation of the law and awareness-raising in the provinces, which will take time and effort.

According to Ian Robinson, “The British Council doesn’t intend to pursue that on its own, but is instead working to identify Vietnamese and international partners with which we can work to help turn the new law into reality.”

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/british-council-partner-zone/2014/dec/16/approved-social-enterprise-receives-legal-status-in-vietnam

Experience of non-governmental organisations in Vietnam responding to climate change

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Local nonprofit spreads love of art and music in Vietnam

The per capita income in some poor areas of Vietnam is the equivalent of $1 per day. School children are known to walk an hour each way to school, and many don’t continue their education beyond the fifth grade.

Rock-Paper-Scissors Children’s Fund, a non-profit founded by Sara Stevens Nerone of Peace Dale, gives impoverished Vietnamese children an opportunity to explore art and music – something they may not get otherwise. This summer, her family and several South Kingstown youth volunteers will travel to Vietnam to help run the programs and teach music camps to children.

“In Vietnam, the kids, especially those living in poverty, don’t have opportunity like kids in the United States do to take music lessons,” Stevens Nerone said. “They don’t have money to buy instruments and they don’t have money to buy art supplies. So we thought this was a great way to be able to provide that opportunity to kids who have those interests.”

The group of nine will leave July 17 and return to the United States August 4. The volunteers will teach approximately 300 children in three villages, Son Tan, Suoi Cat and Cam Phuouc.

The half-day camps will focus largely on what Stevens Nerone referred to as “ethnic minorities” in the country. Vietnam has about 54 ethnic groups in different pockets of the country, but approximately 90 percent of the population are Kinh, the majority group. The remaining groups, the minority, are often the most impoverished, Stevens Nerone said. Rock-Paper-Scissors partners with the Vietnamese Red Cross to identify the areas of the country to focus on.

Rock-Paper-Scissors has a year-round program in Vietnam. The organization sponsors Vietnamese teachers, who instruct approximately 22 violin and cello students and 15 art students in the village of Cam Duc. In the summer, Stevens Nerone’s family helps with this program, and volunteers will prepare the Vietnamese students for a concert for the local government. The volunteers also will teach larger camps in the three other villages.

“When you’re playing together, everyone has something to do; everyone has a part,” said Hannah Beekman of Peace Dale, a volunteer making the trip. “The end result is something that’s really nice.”

This is the first year they will bring the small group of volunteers, all South Kingstown residents: Beekman, Kaitlin Pothier, Robyn Pothier, Marina Cariello and Moses Leonard-Fitzmeier. Stevens Nerone’s daughters, Sophie and Phoebe Nerone, and her partner, Patrick O’Brien, an intern with Independent Newspapers, also will make the trip.

“I want to travel,” Beekman said. “But I don’t want to just go and be a tourist; I’d like to do something that can make a difference.”

The story of Rock-Paper-Scissors began about 15 years ago, when Stevens Nerone adopted her daughter, Sophie, in Vietnam in 1999 and later her daughter, Pheobe. In 2011 and 2012, Stevens Nerone returned with her two daughters and O’Brien to volunteer for seven months in Vietnam.

“While we were living there, Sophie plays the violin and Pheobe plays the cello, and they were practicing, and some of the kids heard them,” Stevens Nerone said. “They wanted to learn how to play. So that’s how we got the idea of starting a music school. We actually taught one of the kids there for seven months and now he’s a teacher.”

When the family returned, they were so inspired by this trip they founded the Rock-Paper-Scissors Children’s Fund. The organization raises funds through private donations and sales of crafts and Vietnamese merchandise online and at local events.

“It opens your eyes to another country,” Pheobe Nerone said of her time spent in Vietnam. “In America, here people are privileged to have a house and stuff; there maybe other people don’t have a place with a roof, or shelter.”

Rock-Paper-Scissors also sponsors a donation program called “bikes for girls,” which provides bicycles to Vietnamese school children who walk up to an hour to school each day, Stevens Nerone said. The organization will donate approximately 200 bicycles this summer.

“After being there, and really seeing the poverty in the country, we just really felt like we needed to do something,” Stevens Nerone said. “When we talk to the kids, we really see how they feel about playing music, how they feel about art, and how they feel about the music community we have created.”

Source: The Independent

Gender mainstreaming: Laws, Policies, and Actions

On May 13, 2014 at 8:00 am the Gender Working Group (GWG) of Ho Chi Minh City held a regular meeting conducted by Ms Do Thi Thanh Thuy, who is a lecturer and collaborator at the Gender and Society Research Center (GAS) at Hoa Sen University.

The meeting took place in a conference room at the KOTO Center at 151A Hai Ba Trung Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City. Participants were GWG members, most of whom are foreigners working for International Non-governmental Organizations in Vietnam. The meeting focused on legal issues, policies and activities involving gender mainstreaming in Vietnam.  At the beginning of the meeting Ms. Dana Mc Nairn, a GWG leader, summarized the issues discussed at the last meeting and announced that the next meeting would be held in July. Then Ms Thuy began her presentation by sharing how gender mainstreaming was defined in other places and in Vietnam in which she emphasized that the definitions are not different in terms of content.

The comparison was aimed to help international gender activists understand and easily apply gender mainstreaming on development projects in Vietnam. Ms. Thuy also emphasized that the Vietnamese government pays very close attention to gender mainstreaming in its development programs and policies. At the meeting numerous approaches were also discussed.  Several gender mainstreaming approaches were taken in the development programs and laws of the Vietnamese government such as the gender equality law, the national strategies for the advancement of Vietnamese women, the strategic plan to alleviate poverty, MDGs and VDGs indicators etc... Additionally, she highlighted the important role that education plays regarding the empowerment of women and the gender equality enhancement process in Vietnam. Specifically, Ms. Thuy talked about the gender and development courses at Hoa Sen University which aim to raise gender equality awareness and woman empowerment among the young Vietnamese generation. The meeting also involved a very spirited discussion regarding questions from the international members such as: how to connect and apply gender mainstreaming with social development strategies.  What are the primary roles of the Vietnam Women’s Union?  How are people’s perspectives changed about gender equality? The meeting closed at 11:00 am in a friendly and sharing atmosphere among GWG members.

Source: GENDER AND SOCIETY RESEARCH CENTER